The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is attempting to block the closing of “empty” and “failing” public schools in Chicago despite experts calling for closures and consolidations, according to a Monday…

Noctilucent clouds were once thought to be a fairly modern phenomenon. A team of researcher have recently calculated that Earth and the entire Solar System may well have passed through two dense interstellar clouds causing global noctilucent clouds that may have driven an ice age. The event is thought to have happened 7 million years ago and would have compressed the heliosphere, exposing Earth to the interstellar medium.  Interstellar clouds are vast regions of gas and dust that flat between the stars inside galaxies. They are mostly made up of hydrogen along with a little helium and trace elements of heavier elements. They are a key part of the life circle of stars providing the materials for new stars to be formed and are seeded with elements after stars die. The clouds vary significantly in size, density and location and are an important part of the evolution of the Galaxy. An annotated illustration of the interstellar medium. The solar gravity lens marks the point where a conceptual spacecraft in interstellar space could use our sun as a gigantic lens, allowing zoomed-in close-ups of planets orbiting other stars. Credits: Charles Carter/Keck Institute for Space Studies Earth’s journey around the Galaxy is not for the impatient for it takes about 250 million years to complete one full orbit at a speed of 828,000 kilometres per hour. Currently the Solar System is located in the Orion Arm, one of the spiral arms of our Galaxy. During the journey, Earth travels through different regions, encountering stars and different densities of the interstellar medium. It experiences gravitational interactions with nearby stars and nebula sometimes exerting  subtle interactions. Regardless of the immense journey, the stars of our Galaxy remain relatively unchanged over a human lifetime.  The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy with several prominent arms containing stellar nurseries swathed in pink clouds of hydrogen gas. The sun is shown near the bottom in the Orion Spur. Credit: NASA A team of astronomers let by Jess A. Miller from the Department of Astronomy of Boston University have traced the path of the Sun back through time. In doing so, they have identified two occasions when the Earth and Solar System passed through two dense interstellar clouds. One of the crossings occurred 2 million years ago, the other 7 million years ago. Exploring the properties of the clouds, the team assert that the clouds are dense enough that they could compress the solar wind to inside the orbit of Earth.  The Solar Wind is a constant stream of charged particles, mostly electrons and protons that are emitted from the upper layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona. The particles travel through the Solar System at speeds between 400 and 800 kilometres per second. The edge of our Solar System is defined as the point where the solar wind merges with the interstellar medium. A composite image comprised of the Sun’s surface, corona, and digitally-added coronal loops rendered by Andrew McCarthy. (Credit: Andrew McCarthy) Previous teams have analysed climate change events due to these interstellar medium interactions with similar findings. Global cooling has been the result with an ice age being triggered. The study by Miller and team have readdressed this very topic using modern technology and processes.  The team find that the interactions have indeed played a part in changes to the atmosphere of Earth. They find that levels of hydrogen in the upper atmosphere would have increased substantially. The newly acquired hydrogen would be converted to water molecules in the lower atmosphere and it would also have led to a reduction in mesospheric levels of ozone. These processes would have led to the appearance of global noctilucent clouds in the mesosphere. They would not have been permanent but may have blocked 7% of sunlight from reaching Earth, plunging our planet into an ice age. Source : Earth’s Mesosphere During Possible Encounters With Massive Interstellar Clouds 2 and 7 Million Years Ago The post What Happens to the Climate When Earth Passes Through Interstellar Clouds? appeared first on Universe Today.

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The legendary Thrash Metal band Slayer came to an end back in 2019 after their farewell tour but a few months ago the band announced they were reuniting for a few special shows in festivals. Last September 22 their first show in five years happened at the Riot Fest in Chicago, IL. The band performed classic songs like "South of Heaven", "Seasons in the Abyss", "Raining Blood" and "Angel of Death". Songs from their final album like "Repentless" were also part of o the setlist and the track "Reborn", from the 1986 album "Reign in Blood", which was not performed live by the group since 2014. Was also part of the set the track "213" from their 1994 album "Divine Intervention. That song wasn't played live by Slayer for more than 20 years, since 1998. The surprising announcement came a few weeks after the guitarist Kerry King said that he didn’t speak to Araya since the band came to an end. But it doesn’t seem like Slayer will tour around the world at least this year since Kerry King now has a solo band and has many scheduled tour dates in 2024. Alongside Tom Araya (Bass and vocals) and Kerry King (Guitar), the final members of the band Paul Bostaph (Drums) and Gary Holt (Guitar) are also back for these shows. The videos and setlist of the first Slayer reunion show South of Heaven Reborn (First time live since 2014) Blood Red Postmortem Repentless Payback Temptation Jihad Seasons in the Abyss Born of Fire War Ensemble Hate Worldwide Disciple Dead Skin Mask Hell Awaits 213 (First time live since 1998) Mandatory Suicide Raining Blood Black Magic Angel of Death [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip7SgD5ZfMo&pp=ygULc2xheWVyIDIwMjQ%3D[/embed] [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJlPDGfczlA&pp=ygULc2xheWVyIDIwMjQ%3D[/embed] 2024 tour dates September 22 – Riot Fest – Chicago, IL 27 – Louder Than Life – Louisville, KY October 10 – Aftershock Festival – Sacramento, CA The post See the videos and setlist of the first Slayer reunion show appeared first on Rock And Roll Garage.

The legendary British band Uriah Heep announced their farewell tour after almost six decades on the road. The group was formed back in 1969 in London, England. Over the years they had many line-up changes and nowadays the only original member is the guitarist Mick Box. In a video posted on the band's social media, Mick talked about the farewell tour. Mick Box said about the Uriah Heep farewell tour “Who can believe next year is 55 years since the band started, and that's just so amazing. I know many of you have been with us since the beginning, and we do thank you for that. It means the world to us. Unfortunately, we have made the decision to wind down touring the whole world next year under the title of 'Magician's Farewell'. In fact, The Magician's Farewell.” "Over the next two to three years, we intend to play as many places as possible and see you all for the one last time. On behalf of the band and myself, I wanna thank you all for the continued support you have always given us. It means the world to us, and it means so much to us, and I just wanna thank you for that,” Mick Box said. The tour dates were still not announced and their only scheduled show so far will happen next December 1 in Porthcawl in the United Kingdom. [embed]https://www.facebook.com/uriahheepofficial/videos/2512170672505691/?__cft__[/embed] During the band's career they released 25 studio albums and 20 live records. The most recent one is "Chaos & Colour". Their current line-up has Mick Box (Guitar - Since 1969), Phil Lanzon (Keyboards - Since 1986), Bernie Shaw (Vocals - Since 1986), Russell Gilbrook (Drums - Since 2007) and Dave Rimmer (Bass - Since 2013). Some of their most famous tracks are "Lady In Black", "Easy Livin'", "Stealin'" and "The Wizard". All tracks were recorded when the late David Byron was the band's vocalist.The post Uriah Heep announces farewell tour appeared first on Rock And Roll Garage.

The Jane's Addiction reunion was sadly cut short this month after the vocalist Perry Farrell assaulted the guitarist Dave Navarro on stage during a concert in Boston. The singer later on apologized for his behavior and revealed he would seek professional help. But on an Instagram post, Navarro hinted that the band won't reunite anymore because he said that the fans won't hear their new single "True Love" being played live. Dave Navarro hints that Jane's Addiction won't reunite anymore "I tried to put the whole song up and it got blocked! Here is what the original caption read: What’s the point of a teaser that makes you search another platform to hear an entire song? Chasing money that’s the point." "Once again, fuck that, here is the new Jane’s song, True Love, in it’s entirety. I am proud of the work we did on this song but I am equally saddened by the fact that you will likely never hear it live. I’d also like to publicly apologize to our crew, @crawlersband and their crew and to @loveandrocketsofficial and their crew." Thanks for being our travel companions for as long as you did. I am gutted that things ended this way and that so many jobs were lost as a result. May all of our hearts mend together," Dave Navarro said. The track was written by Farrell, Navarro, Perkins and Josh Klinghoffer. The band recently released a statement talking about their hiatus: “To all the fans, the band have made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group. As such, they will be canceling the remainder of the tour. Refunds for the canceled dates will be issued at your point of purchase – or if you purchased from a third-party resale site like StubHub, SeatGeek, etc, please reach out to them directly. Thank you,” the band said. [embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/DAJrvbbJ-eL/[/embed]The post Dave Navarro hints that Jane’s Addiction won’t reunite anymore appeared first on Rock And Roll Garage.